The journeys of ~Enable the Children~ Sierra Leone: Vez's Adventures in SL April 08

Dear Friends,

How is Spring for you? Here in Sierra Leone we have seen the beginnings of the rains with just a few nights with heavy storms. However the temps are still high as ever and the heat is unbearable at times. There has been many a day seeing patients in Freetown, literally dripping with sweat in the tiny cramped areas I'm trying to treat the kids in, competing with general noise of horns, goats, arguments, other excited kids while talking to parents, and head pounding while sitting in traffic surrounded by bad drivers with hot tempers. At the end of these days I can do nothing but come home and sleep off the feeling of being baked in an oven all day. Yesterday I tried to do this swinging gently in the breeze in my hammock – but to my shock and pain, after sleeping half an hour I was rudely awoken when I plummeted to the ground when the rope broke – I'm still hurting now!!

This past weekend saw Sierra Leone celebrate Independence Day. It was great to see flags on the streets and people enjoying their beautiful country on the beaches. When we arrived on Bureh town beach for a quiet few days, we soon realised we were in for a true African style experience with the huge sound systems blaring music, one competing against another. Many people of course all wanting to talk to the whites. We escaped across the river to a quieter spot, then as the evening drew in people started to go home. We however were sleeping out under the stars. It was awesome. I had borrowed a cool little mozzie-net tent from a friend, and as we set up camp and a log fire, the rest of the night was bliss, and the sunrise over the mountains, gently warming the sand and sea was just breathtaking. The next day I spent playing – literally like I was a little girl again! We had 4 kids from one of the shanty areas come with us and they had energy never ending – so water, chase, water, sand castles, water, rock climbing, and more water was loved all day!! I'm so please I went, I needed a good playtime!
So back to work, April has been a great month of training. I've led 2 training session about physio for drop foot in our ladies with fistula with the Mercy Ships nurses. These were great fun and involved the nurses practising the exercises on each other and trying on the foot splints we use, to see how hard it is to learn to walk in a new way.
Catching some shade under a Mango Tree

Deaf + Part Sighted Mary enjoys her new sitting positionAbu and Mina continued with our sessions. While Abu and I also attended a 'Children in Crisis' course run by another organisation 'Word Made Flesh'. It was a very useful insight into dealing with the traumas that many kids here in SL have been through. It is easy to forget that this country is fresh out of a 10 year civil war, but lurking just beneath the surface are many memories of killing, abuse, loss of family, forced child soldiering, drug taking, child labour, rape...the list goes on. Some of these things have stopped, but many continue on, not to mention the on-going trauma, abuse and neglect our kids undergo because of their disabilities. The course was a great 'time out' from normal work for Abu and I to take in a bit, and to think about how to improve how we are working.
Unfortunately some difficult news about Mina. She has stopped coming to work and I have not been able to contact her. She told me a few weeks ago that the phone I'd given her was stolen, and then her father died, so she had some time off then. But since then she seems to have disappeared! I was already feeling that she was loosing interest in this work, and there were several things that she needed to improve on, but it seems that she may have decided for herself to leave. I hope that she is ok, and would still like to be in touch with her – especially as her own child is one of my patients. She also has some notes of other families and some equipment, so please pray with me for her to come back at least to talk.
And it's not just Mina, a handful of my patients have gone AWOL too!! People have such few possessions that life is very mobile. Being just before the rainy season, many people travel up-line (out to the villages) to see family, take care of business and collect supplies to stock up for the rains. For about a month now I've not seen Medo, Zainab and Momoh, who all have severe quad Cerebral Palsy. They all have special postural equipment, but I really hope in their absence that the equipment has not been lost or used as firewood!

Michael proudly standing in his new Standing Frame
Despite 'loosing' some kids, I have to say others are flowing in. Especially in darkest Freetown, word of mouth is going round and light is being shone on these precious children. There seems to be little clusters that are hearing about me, going down to the Mercy Ships Clinic, then getting referred to me. And what is great is that they are coming when they are still so young so I can really talk to the family and support them, so these kids do not get abandoned or killed off. However it means much more work, more designing of equipment,

more sitting in hot Freetown trying to find space outside their little shacks to work, and trying to find space in the diary to fit them all in. Sometimes I wish I could take a secret video camera to these homes I visit. I'm not sure you would believe how people have to live.

Everywhere I turn there are people, and finding a space for a 2m mat to work on often means moving tables, cooking pots, water jars, or food preparation. Walking through these houses many a sight can be seen – babies being bathed in buckets by Grani, cows being chopped up, ladies pounding rice, girls braiding hair, tailors sewing, Granpa sleeping, toddlers on pans (potties), teenagers trying to do homework and younger kids dodging in and out with huge buckets of water on their heads. To describe the noise in words is impossible. This is everyday life for them, so who am I to complain when I'm too hot and can't find anywhere to concentrate on treating these kids. Somehow we all continue, and I just pray that some hope is being shone in these lives.

For those of you who pray, please join me in these areas:
- Thank God for more help from UK Rotary people – with donations of equipment and toys, chocolate and breakfast cereals (!) and taking the SOS kids to the beach again – a wonderful time had by all.
- Thank God for still entrusting me with these sparkling new children and families.
- Pray that Abu & I can continue to manage them all with patience + love.
- Thank God for Abu's commitment to this work as he has agreed to increase his hours with me – He truly is wonderful!
- Please pray for the car - few days have passed this month without a BIG problem. Without the car it is very hard for me to see so many patients, not to mention time for fixing and expense.
- My residents permit and visa which are being processed as I write this.
- Future direction - someone to share work with, local support, linking organisations
- Continued safety and protection and good health.